Berlin, who came to Kansas City from a zoo in Minnesota, took her first steps into the zoo's Polar Bear Passage. She will eventually share that space with the zoo's younger male polar bear, Nikita.

While zoo officials hope there will be a love connection between the two bears, they are keeping them apart for now.

"We'll slowly put those barriers closer and closer together until finally they're side-by-side with a single mesh door. With each step, we need to make sure we're getting positive signs from them. So as long as we keep getting positive things and not negative aggression, then we'll keep moving closer and closer," said Sean Putney of the Kansas City Zoo.

Officials said the bears will alternate time in the Polar Bear Passage until they are comfortable together, a process that could take days or even months.